Friday, 2 February 2018

Will Self Meets The C*ck-Suckers!

It's the weekend and as those of us who retain some hair prepare to let it down we could all do with a good laugh.

Not many Sandwell folk are devotees of The Guardian newspaper and the doings of the metropolitan elite in London (where two of the areas Labour MP's prefer to live rather than in the sh*tholes they claim to represent) and so may be unaware of the multi-talented Mr Will Self. He is an eminent and "trendy" man of letters. I personally find his books a tad too complex for my minuscule brain but greatly enjoy his journalism and broadcast work. On Radio 4 (where else?) at the moment his lugubrious wit is given a splendid platform via "Will Self's Great British Bus Journey." He is what my old Dad would have called "a bit of a lad" and in the series he embarks on bus journeys around our septic isle. (It really IS excellent and I heartily commend it to you!)

It is curious that two of the most, er, incurious media organisations in respect of the multiple failings of Labour Sandwell (aka Sadwell) Council are the BBC and The Express and Star (aka "The C*ck-Suckers") and yet their paths mysteriously entwined during Self's tour when he visited Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuulverampton.

Only a few days ago this blog featured the goings on within the local BBC where Sandwell is concerned (and two of their journalists were ace Express and Star grovellers in their previous incarnations as scribes at the feet of the late Smethwick Scumbag, Darren Cooper):

But the C*ck-Suckers are Manchester City to The BBC's Barnet when it comes to glorifying the benighted Borough. They have completely failed to report on most major Sadders stories over the last four years. Their shameless propaganda on behalf of the former wife-beater Cooper would have made Joseph Goebbels blush. They have been supportive of The Sp*nk Brothers and never miss an opportunity to "big-up" Sadwell Labour and associated crazed projects eg the "designer shopping village" in the malodorous cesspit that is Oldbury, Jim Cadman's private statue, the destruction of The Public and, of course, the new multi-million pound vanity project that is the swimming pool.

They have not acted by any reasonable journalistic standards. To this very day they still lie about the grasping College paying rent on The Public when they are not and this blog has put up the actual screenshot from the legal lease to prove that. And, of course, they have been very happy to put the boot in on me from time to time. I can't imagine why?!

But they really did a number on Will Self. He met with our old friend Rob Golledge who continues to purport to be "a journalist." The exchange is set out below. His knowledge of Sandwell Council is so sketchy he can't even get the number of councillors right (there are 72 councillors and, until recent defections and suspensions, 71 were Labour) but in a classic piece of arslikhan Rob Groveller managed to get two paeans of praise in for the ludicrous editor, Keith Harrison (currently pushing a suggestion of a blue plaque for Enoch Powell FFS), plus a mention in dispatches for the owners!

If any regulars can read this without uncontrolled urination (Cllr Hackett excluded) I will stand them a pint down the 'Spoons!

Will Self: H. R Mencken said the role of the journalist is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Give me an example of how you have afflicted the comfortable recently?

"Journalist": There's a Council for an area called Sandwell. You know as an authority for the last sort of four years or so it's had I think out of about 61 members its had about sixty of them been Labour so I think there's been questions and concerns over whether [Self interjection - Tammany Hall] over how many members of one party you get and there have been some major stories coming out of that Council in recent years about concerns about Councillors wielding their influence to get council houses for family members, parking tickets cancelled, particularly also on the sale of defunct Council land.

Will Self: And you're pushing at that door consistently?

"Journalist": We have - this editor has been one of the journalists at the forefront of trying to get questions answered over this case.

Will Self: That's rather serious stuff.

"Journalist": It is rather serious stuff.

Will Self: We worry a lot now in the digital age and with the loss of circulation in the local press that there isn't anybody anymore to speak truth to power and hold it accountable but you seem to have managed to buck that trend. To what do you attribute your success?

"Journalist" We've been in the hands of the same family for over a hundred years....... We have got an editor who is prepared to invest in stories.....